June 27
1800s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s *1930 - 46-year-old Philadelphia Athletics pitcher Jack Quinn became the oldest player to hit a home run in major league history. Quinn, who connected against the St. Louis Browns, also earned his first of nine wins for the season. *1939 - The Brooklyn Dodgers and the Boston Braves played a 23-inning, 2–2 tie. Whit Wyatt pitched the first 16 innings for the Dodgers. Both clubs had played a 26-inning tie in 1920 at the same Braves Field. 1940s 1950s *1955 - Boston Red Sox young star Harry Agganis died unexpectedly from a blood clot after a bout with pneumonia. The 25-year-old Agganis had led all American League first basemen in assists in 1954 and was hitting .313 at the time of his death. *1958 - Billy Pierce of the Chicago White Sox retired 26 straight Washington Senators before pinch-hitter Ed Fitzgerald hit a double just inside the right-field line for the only hit. Pierce then struck out Albie Pearson on three pitches and beat the Senators 3–0. 1960s 1970s *1973 - David Clyde, a $125,000, 18-year-old bonus baby with the Texas Rangers, pitched five innings, struck out eight and allowed one hit in his first major league start. Texas beat the Minnesota Twins 4–3 before 35,698 fans - the Rangers' first home sellout at Arlington Stadium. *1977 - Willie McCovey of the San Francisco Giants hit two home runs in one inning, including a grand slam, to lead the Giants to a 14–9 victory over Cincinnati. With his four-run shot, McCovey became the all-time National League leader with 17 career grand slams. 1980s *1980 - Jerry Reuss of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitched a no-hitter against the rival San Francisco Giants. Reuss, who won an 8–0 decision, narrowly missed a perfect game when shortstop Bill Russell committed a throwing error on Jack Clark’s routine grounder in the first inning. *1985 - Jeffrey Leonard of the San Francisco Giants hit for the cycle in a 7–6 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. Nicknamed “Hac Man” for his aggressive style of hitting, Leonard became the first Giants player to hit for the cycle since Dave Kingman in 1972. *1986 - San Francisco Giants rookie Robby Thompson set a major league record when he was caught stealing four times in the Giants' 7–6, 12-inning victory over the Cincinnati Reds. Catcher Bo Díaz threw out Thompson in the fourth, sixth, ninth and 11th innings. *1989 - Frank Robinson of the Baltimore Orioles and Cito Gaston of the Toronto Blue Jays became the first black managers in major league history to oppose each other in a game. Baltimore beat the Blue Jays, 16–6, at Memorial Stadium. 1990s *1993 - Anthony Young of the New York Mets set a major league record by losing his 24th straight decision, 5–3, to the St. Louis Cardinals. *1999 - Ken Griffey, Jr. hit his 27th home run of the year and robbed Juan González of a three-run homer with a spectacular over-the-fence catch as the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers, 5–2, in the final game at the Kingdome. 2000s *2003 - The Boston Red Sox set a major league record by scoring 10 runs before the first out. The 50-minute, 91-pitch first inning came during a 25–8 victory over Florida. The Red Sox also tied an American League record with 14 first-inning runs. Johnny Damon matched a major league mark with three hits in an inning. *2004: **Cal State Fullerton won the NCAA College World Series, defeating Texas, 3–2, to win the best-of-three championship series 2-0. **Julio Franco hit his eighth career grand slam as the Atlanta Braves get past the Florida Marlins. In his last seven games, the 46-year-old Atlanta first baseman is hitting .458 with four home runs and 11 RBI, and is making plenty of entries on those oldest-to-do-whatever lists. Earlier this month, he became the oldest player in major league history to have a two-homer game, the oldest in the last 96 years to steal a base and extended his own mark for being the oldest to hit a grand slam. **Baltimore's Rafael Palmeiro batted two more hits in a 6≠4 loss to the Yankees, moving him past Sam Rice into sole possession of 26th place on the all-time list. Palmeiro is 11 hits shy of becoming the fourth player in major league history with 3,000 hits and 500 homers. Births *1887 - Rube Benton, pitcher (d. 1937) *1923 - Gus Zernial, All-Star outfielder *1925 - Wayne Terwilliger, infielder *1932 - Eddie Kasko, All-Star infielder *1943 - Rico Petrocelli, All-Star infielder *1960 - Jackie Gutiérrez, infielder *1970 - Jim Edmonds, All-Star outfielder *1975 - Daryle Ward, outfielder *1976 - Johnny Estrada, catcher *1976 - Chris Woodward, infielder *1978 - Oscar Salazar, infielder *1980 - Luis Rodríguez, infielder Deaths *1955 - Harry Agganis, infielder (b. 1929) *1992 - Sandy Amorós, outfielder (b. 1930) *1997 - Ray Benge, pitcher (b. 1902) *2005 - Dick Dietz, All-Star catcher (b. 1941]])